Kooyong SV Faultline Chardonnay

100% Chardonnay from a single vineyard.
Kooyong single vineyard Faultline Chardonnay. A seriously classy and beautiful Chardonnay. Aromas of lemon peel, white peach, honeysuckle and a hint of vanilla oak. Fresh and creamy mouthfeel. Wonderfully pure fruit flavours and a superb balance created by its electric acidity. Complex flavours of peach, nectarine and preserved lemon with a fleck of flint and stoney minerals. A clean finish of minerals, stone fruits and restrained oak.

Sourced from just 0.5 ha of 22-year-old Chardonnay vines within the Faultline block. The soil contains less ironstone and more deep clay, leading to the creation of wines with an earthy depth and a fuller, richer palate. The grapes were gently whole-bunch pressed directly into French oak barriques (of which 15% were new), where fermentation occurred spontaneously with ambient yeasts. Following fermentation, the wine aged on lees (without battonage) for 11 months, with the only racking occurring directly prior to bottling. The wine was bottled without fining and with minimal filtration.

You can drink it now, but this wine will require time to reach its full potential over the next 5-6 years. In other words, open up a spot in your cellar for this fresh, fruity and creamy babe.

Handsomely weighty and fruited, with its typical undercarriage of minerality and brittleness, it reveals a spicy bouquet of grapefruit and lemon, coriander and oregano, plus some tight-knit faintly smoky vanilla oak. It’s unctuous and generous, but delivers genuine length and drive of citrusy fruit. Backed by creamy, nutty complexity before finishing savoury and almost saline.

 This has body and flavour but all is displayed in a searing setting. Melon, citrus, lettuce, honeysuckle, white peach and woodsmoke. Not much oak, just a tickle. Length, yes. Don’t touch this for at least a couple of years.